Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Block (NYSE:SQ)

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $90.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho upped their price target on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Evercore ISI reissued an in-line rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $87.55.

Block Trading Up 5.8 %

Shares of SQ stock traded up $4.06 on Friday, reaching $73.53. 11,538,016 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,201,752. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.33. The stock has a market cap of $45.27 billion, a PE ratio of 94.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. Block has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Block will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585 in the last quarter. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WBI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 1st quarter worth approximately $349,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Block by 55.9% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 16,124 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,364,000 after acquiring an additional 5,783 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in Block by 1.6% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 19,453 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Block by 240.9% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 127,001 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,741,000 after purchasing an additional 89,744 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Block by 3.8% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 38,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,253,000 after buying an additional 1,438 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Block Company Profile

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.